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Oct 4 , 2006

Organic Fertilizers - Thaddeus

Last week a customer read the farm news regarding the E. coli 157 outbreak and asked the quetion; “If we don't use animal manure for fertilizer what do you use?” When we talk about fertilizer we are more specifically talking about nitrogen inputs into the soil. There are many different options available to organic farmers and animal manure is one of them. On our farm we do several different things. First, we plant cover crops onto our fields as often as possible. Cover crops are generally a legume (beans), this is done because this family of plants has nitrogen fixing root systems which produce nitrogen that stays in the soil and is used by the following crop that is grown in the field. While this is a great option it is limiting because you cannot grow anything else on the land while the cover crop is there, the process is relatively slow and it adds a limited amount of nitrogen to the soil.

The second wave of options is referred to as soil amendments. Soil amendments are anything that you would add to the field that came from a different place. We use green waste, fish and seaweed solutions. Green waste is compost; this material comes from all the residential green waste products in the Bay Area - grass clippings and compost from homes and restaurants. A company collects these products, composts them and we will apply this to our fields. The fish we use is literally fish that has been ground up and saturated into a liquid solution, which we then apply to the crops with the irrigation water. Seaweed solution is ground up seaweed saturated in water and also applied through irrigation water.

Farms that use animal manure are generally located very close to livestock operations, which make this amendment an economical option because the freight costs are relatively low (generally the freight to move manure and compost is as expensive as the product itself). Generally manure is a safe option because the E. coli 157 does not live well outside of the animal, so if manure has been sitting around for a few months the E. coli is killed. In general manure is put onto the soil before any plants have started to grow, even if the manure is infected, if it never comes into contact with the plant it will never be an issue. The problem comes when fresh manure is applied to a field that has plants growing in it. If the manure is infected, it comes into contact with the produce, which then is consumed by individuals.

This topic is one of the most dramatic differences between an organic farm and a conventional farm. Synthetic fertilizers (nitrogen) are easily manufactured from petroleum. This high source of soluble nitrogen is applied to fields through irrigation systems or it is sprinkled on throughout the field. While this is a great source of nitrogen for growing plants, it is very easy to apply more that the plant can use which results in nitrogen seeping into the groundwater or running off fields and contaminating water ways.

I hope that helps clarify what we are talking about. Enjoy your box this week - Thaddeus

Special Date! Sunday October 29

Capay Organic, our store in the S.F. Ferry Building, will be hosting free pumpkin decorating for any
children (or adults too). Pumpkin decorating will start at 3pm and we will be serving hot apple cider. We will be giving a talk on
how pumpkins grow and will have recipe cards for great things to cook with pumpkins.
Event will be from 3pm - 5pm

Farm Tour Update
Fall 2006
Get ready! We'll be hosting a work party on the farm in the fall. We
hope to see new faces along with familiar folks getting their hands
mucky in Capay dirt. Stay tuned...

We look forward to seeing you!

Please contact: Georgette at Georgette@farmfreshtoyou.com or call 800.796.6009 to
reserve space for you, family and friends.

Plan on arriving at the farm early in the morning, as close to 8am as possible. There will be actvities and walks planned for the whole family.

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